Bill Nye rips creationism: Er, he is the "science guy"

Death hoax ensues

Was it just a coincidence that "Bill Nye R.I.P." started trending on Twitter after the science educator, famed for his long-running PBS show Bill Nye the Science Guy, came out against creationism?

Many tweets Monday morning sounded an awful lot like the following from YouTube celeb Joe Santagato: "WAIT, WHAT! WHY IS R.I.P BILLNYE THE SCIENCE GUY TRENDING?! No way man. I loved BillNye. He was the only good part of science class."

Cool it, tweeps. At 56, Nye is very much alive (and very vocal) -- though to some "evolution detractors" the scientist-turned-entertainer might as well be dead.

In a YouTube clip titled, "Bill Nye: Creationism is Not Appropriate for Children," the TV host starts off saying that denying evolution is unique to the U.S., despite America being the source of most of the world's innovation.

"When you have a portion of the population that doesn't believe in (evolution) it holds everybody back," Nye continues. "Evolution is the fundamental idea in all of life science, in all of biology."

He likens not believing it to "trying to do geology without believing in tectonic plates."

"You're just not going to get the right answer -- your whole world is just going to be a mystery instead of an exciting place," Nye added.

He also indicated that creationists are "in love" with the idea of a young earth so much that they're blinded by what's in front of and around them -- from ancient dinosaur fossils to distant stars to radioactivity.

"If you try to ignore that," Nye added, speaking to the concept of earth being billions (not 5,700!) of years old, "your worldview just becomes… untenable."

The following statement could no doubt explain the sheer volume of Fox News stories buzzing about Nye Monday morning, as Mr. Science is Fun goes on to speak directly to parents: "I say to grownups: If you want to deny evolution and live in your world that is completely inconsistent with everything we observe in the universe, that's fine. But don't make your kids do it because we need them. We need scientifically literate voters and taxpayers for the future.

"We need engineers that can build stuff, solve problems... and in another couple of centuries that worldview, I'm sure, just won't exist. There is no evidence for it."

Don't quite know what is more perplexing here: That there are still so many evolution naysayers in the States, or that there are so many people "gasping" that Bill Nye THE SCIENCE GUY had the audacity to speak to scientific fact.